Union money went for strippers, beer

Updated 9:56 am, Thursday, February 9, 2012

A recorded phone conversation from an outside line into the Rensselaer County Jail of two Rensselaer County corrections officers discussing a golf fund raiser for sheriff candidate Gary Gordon.

Media: Times Union

TROY — The former leaders of a Rensselaer County jail officers union spent tens of thousands of dollars in union money for outings at top-scale restaurants, strip clubs, bars and to make contributions to political campaigns and organizations in which they had a personal interest.

A copy of banking records obtained by the Times Union show the expenditures were made during a six-year period beginning in 2006 when Mark A. Piche and Kevin Rogers, both officers at the Rensselaer County jail, were in charge of the Sheriffs Employees Association of Rensselaer County, known as SEARCO. The union represents approximately 180 jail officers.

Piche recently was suspended from his job without pay. Rogers was placed on administrative leave, according to Sheriff Jack Mahar. The sheriff said he could not divulge the reasons the officers are facing discipline or whether it's related to their management of the labor union. Both Piche and Rogers publicly supported Gary Gordon, who unsuccessfully challenged Mahar in the November election.

Piche had been president of the union and Rogers was vice president. They were replaced as union leaders two weeks ago when the organization held elections for the first time since it was formed in December 2004.

The elections took place under a Supreme Court judge's order, three months after a group of correction officers filed court papers accusing Piche and Rogers of fraud and misappropriation of union funds. The court action sought to dissolve the union and obtain a court-ordered accounting of what several officers alleged was misconduct and a "breach of fiduciary obligations" by Piche and Rogers.

Another officer, Eric Morin, filed a related complaint in November with the state attorney general's office which requested that agency launch an investigation. Morin and other officers have complained in court filings that the union leaders had for years declined to reveal their expenditures, issue annual reports, file bylaws, hold elections or keep minutes of any meetings.

Phone call recordings obtained from from Rensselaer County Jail involving Gary Gordon who is running for Sheriff in Rensselaer County. (Some portions are edited to remove subject names)

Media: Times Union

The banking records reflect disbursements, ATM withdrawals and other transactions from a union account between 2006 and 2011. They show disbursements of more than $14,000 for unitemized expenditures that are listed in the records only as "donation." There are also roughly $8,000 in cash withdrawals from ATMs.

On Jan. 3, 2008, the records show, the union's debit card was used to pay for a $1,611.75 tab at Angelo's 677 Prime, an upscale Albany steakhouse. The same day, records show the union's debit card was used for $52.85 in purchases from Troy Food Mart; $81.83 at a Troy diner; $55 at an Asian-style restaurant; and a withdrawal of $103.50 from an ATM at a topless dance club, Double Vision, in Halfmoon.

Two weeks earlier, on Dec. 21, 2007, the debit card was used for a $62 purchase at Valenti's Pub in Troy and also for two withdrawals totaling $344 from the same topless bar in Halfmoon. On other occasions, the card was used to pay for multi-hundred-dollar tabs at area bars and restaurants.

In July 2010, the union paid $1,200 to Pugnacious Promotions, a local company that promotes and sells tickets to professional boxing matches. Another payment for $600 was made to Pugnacious Promotions in February 2011. Both payments were made just before scheduled boxing events in Albany.

The records show union funds were used to pay for more than $20,000 in restaurant and bar tabs, including at least $8,000 paid to Red Front Restaurant, a Troy eatery owned by Piche's family.

Union funds also were used to make at least $2,300 in donations to the South Troy Dodgers, a youth baseball team coached by Rogers.

Rogers could not be reached for comment.

Piche defended the expenditures and his work as head of the union, saying he secured two labor contracts during his tenure.

In January 2006, records show a $450 donation to Averill Park schools. A correction officer familiar with the matter, but not authorized to comment publicly, said Piche has a child who attends school there. "You can see the way they were living. They were using our money as their own supplemental income," the officer said. "It reeked of impropriety."

Piche declined to go through all the expenditures but said the charitable donations were made to local groups, including youth and law enforcement organizations.

The 2008 outing at Prime 677, he said, was the first official meeting of the union's executive board.

"We chose to hold it there," Piche said. "I was present for that. It was an executive board meeting that was held. There was nothing in the bylaws that said we can't do that."

On the expenditures at his family's restaurant, Piche said they were for union functions. "Every expenditure at the Red Front was 100 percent legitimate," Piche said. "Because I'm the (former) union president my family's restaurant can't do the food?"

SEARCO, which operates as a labor union and collects dues from members, is actually a not-for-profit corporation registered with the state of New York.

Piche said he and Rogers were suspended recently when they arrived at the jail to report for work after extended leaves related to health issues. He said sheriff's officials met them in the parking lot to inform them they were being relieved of duty for disciplinary reasons. Piche said he was not told why he was being suspended. He said he believes it was related to his public support of the Mahar's opponent in last November's election. His support included a $500 donation from union funds to Gordon's campaign.

"I can tell you this: I know it's political retribution," Piche said. "The sheriff made statements to people that what happened was going to happen."

During last year's campaign, audiotapes of recorded telephone conversations between union officials, including Piche, and Gordon, the Rensselaer County district attorney's investigator who challenged Mahar for the job, were released by the sheriff's department. The tapes revealed union members apparently pressuring Gordon to help fix traffic tickets for their relatives in exchange for their endorsement and work on his campaign.

"The tape recordings were taken illegally," Piche said. "We as a union never gave permission for the sheriff to tape our phone calls."

Mahar requested that state and federal authorities investigate the information gleaned from the telephone calls. On Wednesday, Mahar said he could not discuss the matter, including whether any outside agencies had launched criminal investigations.

Gordon has said he did not fix tickets and only provided information to people about what to expect when they went to court.